Finding your way around the bay

History

How we got to now.

Culture

Agriculture, culture, counterculture.

Environment

Outdoors, hell yeah!

Activities

Plenty to do around these parts.

Contact

We are here to help.

Increasingly this site has focused on gardening and the natural world of the Bay Area and Northern California. The associated blog is called Tom's Garden: Growing by the Bay. Below are some sample images and links to posts.

Most people enjoy the San Francisco Bay Area — it consistently ranks at or near the top of polls of preferred travel destinations. But there are exceptions — novelist Gilbert Sorrentino said "the entire Bay Area, with the source of infection being, of course, that citadel of provincialism, San Francisco, has the air of an amateur stage production set in sinister natural surroundings." And clownish ex-NBA star Charles Barkley dismissed "Golden State" as a "smoky little town." (Unlike Barkley, the Warriors have won championships.)

Sorrentino and Barkley notwithstanding, the region is blessed with natural beauty, with its expansive bay surrounded by hills that are wooded with pines near the coast, turn to oak as one moves inland, and grow more open and golden as one continues east. The bay empties into the Pacific at the Golden Gate, and to the north and south stretch endless beaches and rocky shores.

The Bay Area also benefits from a pleasant Mediterranean climate, usually at its best in September and October. Summers in the city and elsewhere near the coast can be frigid with fog, and in winter one may endure long periods of relentless drizzle (January is the wettest month). But sunny days will follow, and it's a rare winter that doesn't see some beautiful sunlit days to cheer the sodden spirit.

...

The area benefits from a diverse and creative population, although rising housing prices are now driving many people away. A Pacific rim region, and historically the country's preeminent outreach to Asia, the San Francisco Bay Area has a unique culture that looks as much to the East as to the east. It is a tolerant region, for a large American city, and less segregated than most. Needless to say, there are the usual urban problems, and attention has recently focused on police abuses and racial inequities. These days grumbling about the seemingly endless infusion of tech money, which drives up prices, grows louder. Still, the Bay Area, with its colorful history and lively arts scene, offers a great variety of choices for activities. Many national trends, from the counterculture movements of the postwar years to the high-tech boom at the end of the century, got their start in the Bay Area.

But misinformation abounds, and there are plenty of traps for the unwary. Traffic congestion and homelessness are just two of the difficult issues on which little progress is apparent. The city tends to be pleased with itself to the point of smugness. Perhaps because it depends so heavily on its tourist industry, it tends to view things through rose-colored lenses. Frisco Vista seeks to correct misrepresentations and misconceptions to present an honest and informed picture of all aspects of Northern California and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Sister Sites

The web we weave.

Right Reading

Concept to publication

7 Junipers

Asian art and culture.

Buried Mirror

Mesoamerica and the Maya World.

Museum of Folly

Stuff and nonsense.

Some rights reserved
Tom Christensen. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons (attribution, noncommercial, no derivs: 3.0) License (US), although some work this sites incorporates may be separately licensed. Text and photos by Thomas Christensen unless otherwise noted.